Goulburn lived in Betchworth, Dorking in Betchworth House for much of his life and, to boost his parliamentary income, his inheritance included an estate in Jamaica, populated by a number of slaves who worked on sugar plantations in an area of over 2,000 acres (exploringsurreyspast.org.uk)

Henry Goulburn’s estate was named Amity Hall which was situated in the parish of Vere, Jamaica. The estate experienced a number of problems and Goulburn wrote perpetually to his agents and attorneys there, slowly realising that his plantations were not reaping the high revenue he had hoped for. In addition, Goulburn had to grapple with a moral dilemma, for the treatment of slaves on his estate did not sit well with his evangelical conscience (exploringsurreyspast.org.uk)

As he was absent from the plantation and never visited Jamaica himself, Henry relied upon an attorney to do follow orders on the estate. One attorney in particular, Thomas Samson, held the top job at the estate from 1802-1818 and earned a poor reputation for cruelty towards Goulburn’s slaves (exploringsurreyspast.org.uk)

In the domain of finance, Goulburn's chief achievements were to reduce the rate of interest on part of the national debt, and to allow anyone to sell beer upon payment of a small annual fee, a complete change of policy with regard to the drink traffic. Leaving office with Wellington in November 1830, Goulburn was Home Secretary under Sir Robert Peel for four months in 1835, and when this statesman returned to office in September 1841 he became Chancellor of the Exchequer for the second time. Although Peel himself did some of the chancellor's work, Goulburn was responsible for a further reduction in the rate of interest on the national debt, and he aided his chief in the struggle which ended in the repeal of the Corn Laws. With his colleagues, he left office in June 1846. After representing Horsham in the House of Commons for over four years, Goulburn was successively member for St Germans, for West Looe, and for the city of Armagh. In May 1831, he was elected for Cambridge University, and he retained this seat until his death.